Despite the ongoing financial accusations, off pitch rumours and speculation that have surrounded Manchester City for more years than I care to remember, things kicked into a higher gear when the charges were finally levied by the Premier League and we are already into media and legal ping pong between the two on unrelated issues as they try and establish dominance.
The 2024/25 Premier League campaign holds other concerns for the Etihad Stadium faithful though, having lost Rodri in September to a season ending Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury, many will look back on that as being the moment their luck ran out.
The season was going as predicted until the very end of October – ten wins across all competitions, with three draws – but with performances beginning to wobble with Rodri’s omission, injuries really hit Pep Guardiola’s first team options and starting with their League Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, they have now lost four on the spin for the first time since the Spaniard’s arrival at the club, including two Premier League defeats to Bournemouth and Brighton and Hove Albion and a Champions League loss to Sporting CP.
Understandably opposition fans are loving this right now given City’s dominance of six title wins in the last seven campaigns, and four of those being consecutive title victories, bit City fans acknowledge the situation that they find themselves in and continue to trust that Guardiola is obviously the man to turn them around again – even if they have to wait for the injury crisis to come to an end.
Given the off pitch issues, and the on pitch struggles, Guardiola’s frustration has come to the fore recently even though he is adamant he is not ‘complaining’ about the situation as his job is to cope and deal with it, and get them back to winning ways. He also knows they are not the first club to have significant injury problems, it is simply part of the game and like everyone else, he has to get on with it.
But the timing of their problems will leave many wondering whether it will impact on Guardiola’s foreseeable future as he has already refused to be drawn on whether or not a new contract will be signed when his existing one expires next summer. There are also those who wonder if this uncertainty itself has contributed to their lack of form and inability to deal with the injuries that have come their way.
It is definitely going to be fascinating to continue to watch from the outside. Maybe Pep is right, maybe it is time for another team to shine this year?